When She Wakes Up
by PoliceCommander
Summary: Persona 3:- They were going to celebrate when she woke up. It seemed like such a great idea at the time. -A look at her death from the people she treasured the most. Main pairing: Shinjiro/Female Protag.
1. Chapter 1

-1-

She could hear everyone's footsteps now, drawing nearer and nearer. Yet they seemed to be slowly fading away.

"I'm glad I met you" she heard Shinjiro say. She could feel the vibrations of his voice through his chest as she embraced him, sitting on his lap on the school roof.

She was glad, too; to have met all of them. They had had their rough spots here and there, but in actuality, they were all she had.

She nuzzled into his chest and slowly closed her eyes.

"Keiko-tan!"

"Ohmoto-san!"

"Keiko-chan!"

Shinjiro cocked his head to the side, almost glaring at the rest of SEES, who had burst through the door to the roof seconds before.

He chuckled, still holding her close. "They sure do know how to ruin a moment, huh?"

"Keiko-chan…We thought…" Fuuka smiled, teary-eyed.

"We remember now! All of it!" Yukari stated proudly.

"Can't believe we ever forgot" Junpei sighed, apologetic.

Aigis, who was sitting on one of the benches opposite Keiko and Shinjiro, smiled at her friends.

"Everyone…" she breathed.

Shinjiro furrowed his brow and looked down at the girl. "Tch" he grunted, half-smiling.

"What's wrong?" Akihiko asked.

The rough teenager started to laugh. "She fell asleep. What bullshit." Despite his words, he was laughing heartily.

"Well, we can save our words for later, then. Let's take her back to the dorm" Mitsuru closed her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Heh, that's our Keiko" Junpei grinned. "C'mon, we can celebrate when she's awake!"

Shinjiro stood, scooping her up in his arms in the process. He looked down at her sleeping face; down at the peaceful face of the one he loved.

"Tch. Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

-2-

The next morning, she didn't wake up.

Yukari went into her room to wake her up, but to no avail. When she noticed that her friend wasn't breathing, she started to panic, screaming out for help.

"Call an ambulance! Someone please!" she cried, unsure of what else to do.

The others were quick to appear in the doorway.

"Takeba, what's wrong!" Mitsuru asked.

Shinjiro burst through the small crowd and pushed Yukari away.

"Goddamnit, Keiko" he muttered. He pulled up his sleeves and turned to the others, each with their own confused and worried look on their face.

"Call a damn ambulance, she ain't breathing!" he snarled.

"K-Keiko-chan!" It was easy to tell that Fuuka had already broken into tears.

Shinjiro leant over the girl, positioning his clasped hands over her chest. He began to perform CPR, with each failed attempt bringing him closer to breaking.

"Damnit! Wake the hell up!" he snapped. "Don't you dare think about dying on me!"

He breathed in a gasp of air, leaning down for mouth-to-mouth, but everything he tried was in vain.

"Shit…" he muttered.

They could hear the sirens of the ambulance Mitsuru had called minutes earlier in the distance.

"Shinji, do something!" Akihiko growled. "Don't just stand—"

"She's dead! Nothing's going to work!"

"D-dead…? No…" Yukari breathed.

"Keiko-san!" Aigis stepped forward, hoping that somehow he had gotten it wrong.

"Damnit!" Junpei growled, throwing his cap angrily at the ground.

"This can't be happening…"

"Everything we've been through! Why…?"

Shinjiro clenched his fists, shaking his head. "Tch. You're such a freaking hypocrite" he muttered.

"So I'm not allowed to die, but you are? What bullshit."

There was a loud banging at the door two floors below them.

"Must be the paramedics…" Akihiko breathed. "I'll get it…"

"Why did she have to…?" Mitsuru murmured.

After that, there was dead silence, save for the paramedics and, presumably, Akihiko rushing up the stairs.

They wheeled her out of the dorm on a gurney, a white sheet covering her young body.

When she left, all they could do was mourn her loss.

Yukari, Fuuka and Mitsuru comforted each other; Koromaru sat by Aigis gloomily as she silently lamented; Junpei sat on one of the couches, head in his hands, cursing to himself; Akihiko comforted a crying Ken, and Shinjiro was nowhere to be found.


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

Ken wouldn't stop crying; no matter what Akihiko tried, he'd continue to bawl his eyes out, muttering things like, "Why?" and "Keiko" through his tears.

The others had tried to stop crying as well, but seeing Ken like that only reminded them of their grief.

Koromaru sat by the child and placed his head on his lap to try and cheer him up, looking up at him with sad eyes.

Ken took a shaky gulp of hot milk that Yukari had prepared for him and breathed in, patting the loyal dog affectionately. The tears kept coming, but at least the sobbing and murmuring had stopped.

He wiped at his face with the oversized sleeve of his turtleneck jumper and tried to smile.

Akihiko looked on at him sadly.

"Poor kid. No one's first love should have to turn out like this" he sighed, shaking his head.

The others had noticed that he hadn't had the chance to grieve; in fact, he was being strangely calm about the whole situation. Even Mitsuru had broken down in tears the second Keiko left the building.

"Akihiko…Why don't you get some air…?" she asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Why?" he muttered.

"You've been helping us all, senpai. You should take a break" Yukari sniffled.

"...Thank you…" was all he said, flinging his coat off the rack at the door and over his shoulder. "I'll be back soon. If anything happens…"

"Just go, man" Junpei tried to joke, but even he wasn't in the mood for it.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Akihiko clenched his heart.

"Keiko…" he breathed. "First Miki, now you?"

He found himself wandering to Port Island Station, desperately searching for a place he could be alone.

He could go to _that place_, with its notorious reputation for death and grief. He walked nonchalantly over to the back alley, heart aching with every step he took.

"Shinji?" he spotted his friend sitting on a step.

"Tch. Found me again. It's really starting to shit me, Aki" he grunted.

Akihiko took a seat next to him.

"I…needed some air. I can't be around that place right now" Shinjiro sighed.

"…I can't believe something like this happened again… And to Keiko, as well?" the boxer shook his head. "She was always telling me not to overdo it. She was always…the perfect leader… The perfect…"

"Not you, too" Shinji murmured, violently placing a hand on his friend's head, attempting to comfort him.

"Gah…I'm not crying, damnit!"

"Pussy."

"Shut up."

They sat in silence for a few minutes longer; just sitting.

"That girl was a pain in the ass, you know" Shinjiro suddenly uttered, adjusting his beanie.

"Huh?" Akihiko sat up, brow furrowed.

"We only knew each other for a little bit, but in that time, she wouldn't stop bugging me" he chuckled nostalgically. "I mean, this one time, we went to that restaurant near Hagakure… Geez, what was it called? Anyway, she ate so much that she practically begged me to carry her back to the dorm. What kind of dumbass…" he trailed off. "But even when I warned her that things'd end up going to shit with me, she kept bugging me…"

Akihiko smiled gloomily. "…She always asked about you… 'Any news about Shinjiro-senpai?' or 'Are they allowing visitors yet?'… It started to get on my nerves a bit…"

Shinjiro chuckled.

"Tch. Look at us, speaking about the past like old men."

He turned to the other teenager briefly before standing.

"Shinji?"

"…I'm sick of living in the past. I'm going to live in the moment, like she did. I mean, look at all the shit that girl had to go through, and she still walked down those stairs every morning with a freaking smile on her face. Tch. Compared to her, we're pathetic. Fighting, fighting, and for what?"

Akihiko followed his lead and stood as well.

"What're you talking about! I'm fighting for Miki! I'm fighting to protect the people I care about!"

"Well, you did a pretty shit job of that, didn't you—Shit!"

The next thing he knew, Shinjiro was cupping his now-bleeding nose. Copping a punch from Akihiko had never hurt so much, and he'd been through some pretty painful punches from the champion boxer before.

"Grh…Ungh… Pretty good, Aki… Keiko…she'd be proud…"

"…Keiko… It's too bad she picked you, huh? But don't worry… I'm going to protect everyone… I'm not going to live in the past, like I promised her! So, Shinji?"

"Khh…Heh… You really shit me sometimes, Aki. Tch. Yeah, let's take care of everyone for her."

Wiping away some of the blood from his nose with his sleeve, Shinjiro offered his other hand.

Akihiko flexed his aching hand, then slapped it into his friends' for a handshake.

"Yeah. For Keiko!"


	4. Chapter 4

-4-

* * *

"_Hey, Ken-kun, are you doing anything today?" Keiko asked, slumping down on the couch next to the child._

"_H-huh? Oh, Keiko-san. No, I'm not doing anything in particular today. Why do you ask?" he looked up at her innocently, a blank look on his face._

_The teenager smiled at him, feeling a little bit tempted to reach out and grab his cheeks. He always spoke like such an adult- more so than Junpei, that is._

"_There's a movie marathon playing at Port Island Station. Today, they're playing action movies! So I thought you might want to go with me" she said, playing with her headphones nonchalantly._

_She may not have noticed it, but his heart jumped at the chance._

"_I-I'd love to! Oh, u-uh… I mean; of course I'll go with you, Keiko-san."_

_She laughed softly at his sudden, but brief outburst of childishness and nodded. "Great! Then let's go!"  
_

_On the way to Iwatodai Station, Ken felt his heart threatening to burst out of his chest._

_His fists were clenched at his sides as he walked beside her, trying to think of the perfect conversation starter. He looked up at her face, almost blushing at the sudden eye contact they made._

_He immediately looked away, making her laugh slightly. He hated making her laugh at him like that._

"…_So, Keiko-san…" he cleared his throat._

"_Yeah?" she mumbled, her voice a little louder than it should've been thanks to the mid-volume music that she often listened to._

"_Uh…What kind of music do you like?" he blurted out without really thinking. He smiled at himself proudly._

"_Hm? Well, I like anything, really" she shrugged, removing her headphones to listen to him. _

"_But I really love rock music" she laughed, "I know it's sort of a boyish thing, but… What can I say? It's a guilty pleasure, I guess."_

"_Oh. I wouldn't have thought that" he stated._

_She looked down at him and smiled her usual smile. "I like rock music because it's kind of outrageous. The things that the artists say in their songs vary so much that it's sort of fun to listen to the next one. My dad and I used to listen to it together all the time when I was little" she sighed, feeling nostalgic._

_Ken bowed his head slightly. "Oh… Do you…uh…miss him?" he muttered. "…I miss my mom a lot."_

_Keiko saw his gloomy expression and reached down to take his hand._

_He suddenly breathed in sharply, flicking his head to face her again, a deep blush on his face._

"_You don't mind, do you?" she stuck her tongue out at him briefly._

_He swallowed and shook his head, almost violently._

_They continued to walk hand-in-hand. Iwatodai Station was almost in sight now._

"_Yeah, I miss him a lot. But, hey, I've got my rock music to remind me of him" she joked._

_Realising she should change the subject, she looked to the local advertisements for advice._

"_So, you like Featherman R, right? Isn't he awesome?"_

_

* * *

_

Why wasn't this a dream?

Why couldn't he wake up and go to the lounge to find her talking with Yukari and Fuuka about the newest fashion trends and boys like he so often did?

Why couldn't they go to the movies together ever again?

It just wasn't fair!

The tears had eventually stopped coming, but he feared that the painful thoughts of her would never stopped.

Ken clenched the handle of his mug tightly, taking another sip of his black coffee.

"_You really are like an old man. Come on, add some milk!" _he remembered she'd often laugh at him.

He shook the thoughts off, shakily breathing in.

"Yukari-san?" he looked up to the teenager sitting across from him.

She had already begun studying for her university entrance exams, even though she was barely a senior. Ken had wondered whether studying kept her mind off of Keiko's death, if only for a little bit.

"Hm? What's wrong?" she asked, rather bluntly.

"Oh, uh… I was just wondering…" No. He shouldn't bring up Keiko. That would just be selfish.

"…I was just wondering if there was any milk left… I could go get some…"

She raised an eyebrow and shrugged, turning her attention to her studies again.

…She'd also been a lot moodier lately.

He laughed under his breath as a certain memory crossed his mind.

He remembered sitting with Keiko and the others as she tried her best impressions of everyone in the dorm to try and cheer everyone up. Her impression of Koromaru was his favourite.

He looked down into the dark brown liquid, realising that maybe it was a little too strong for him.


	5. Chapter 5

-5-

_The dorm was unusually quiet that afternoon. _

_Yukari and Junpei had gone out with friends, while Akihiko and Mitsuru had some business to attend to. Ken was in his room, as he usually was, Koromaru was lazily resting in the lobby, Fuuka was upstairs on her laptop, most likely recording the progress of their last visit to Tartarus, and Aigis was, probably, in her room getting charged up… or whatever._

_The only ones left, sitting in the lobby and watching TV, were her and Shinjiro._

_The stoic teenager was busy taking down notes from the cooking show that was on, while Keiko, bored as hell, watched on. The concentrated expression on his face was so cute that it had somehow captured all of her attention._

"_**And, voila! Look how perfect it turned out! Hopefully, it came out the same for you" **__the TV chef chuckled. __**"Well, that's all from me for today! Keep cooking!"**_

_The credits rolled for a split second before the program changed to a news broadcast._

"_**Good afternoon. I'm… Tonight, we'll have an exclusive interview with mega-idol Kujikawa Rise. Our entertainment journalist sat down with Miss Kujikawa during her brief visit to Port Island earlier this month."**_

"_Kujikawa Rise" Keiko repeated._

_Shinjiro looked at her, an eyebrow raised. Keiko smiled at him._

_He rolled his eyes and turned away. "Tch. Another spoiled brat who thinks she's the shit."_

"_Someone's bitter" she mumbled, shifting in her seat._

"_Ten years from now, no one will even remember this girl" he muttered darkly._

"_Sounds like you're going to murder her, Shin-chan…" Keiko laughed._

_The first few times she'd addressed him that way, he'd been annoyed, but eventually, he'd gotten used to it, though he warned her only to use it in private. _

_Besides, the smile she used after she called him that was so cute._

_There was silence for a little while after that. Keiko thought of somehow lightening the mood, but she found no opportunity._

"_**So, Rise, who was your first love?"**_

"_**Haha, what an odd question! But, I guess I'm a little too young…"**_

"_Aragaki Shinjiro" she murmured._

"_What?" he grunted._

"_I answered the question."_

_Shinjiro rolled his eyes. "You're such a weird girl."_

"_I know." She leant over to look at him in the eyes, their faces dangerously close._

"_Tch."_

_He didn't get the chance to say anything more before she kissed him._

_

* * *

_

"That's a very good choice. Most men don't have a clue when it comes to flowers. Are these for your girlfriend?" the shop attendant asked.

"_When it comes to being in public, just be polite, alright? Come on, for me?"_

"…Yeah, I guess."

"Well, she'll be very happy with these, trust me. What kind of girl is she?"

'None of your business' he mentally groaned.

"She's weird. Always happy. And stupid, too. She likes to help people, but she's not very good at it… Oh, and I guess she's cute" he muttered, looking down at the flowers he'd picked out.

"I-I see. Well, um, why don't you come to the counter and you can pay for those."

'Tch. Teaches me to follow Keiko's advice. Note to self: find a different flower shop.'

After leaving the flower shop, flowers in tow, he walked up to the station in silence.

* * *

The clouds were heavy with rain by the time he got there.

"Why's she gotta be so damn far away…" he sighed.

He stepped off of the thin road and onto the deep green grass.

The sakura trees surrounding the place set a scene that was beautiful, a fitting backdrop for the cheerful girl.

"Hey, Keiko" he muttered, setting the flowers down. "It's been a while, huh? Tch. Sorry, I guess."

Her headstone was a little smaller than the others, but much more extravagant, with bouquets of flowers surrounding it. It was somehow beautiful.

He dug his hands in his pockets.

"Looks like you've had a lot of visitors. Not that I'm surprised" he chuckled.

His expression turned dark quickly.

"Hey, you remember what you said to me? _What'll you be doing in two years?_" he sighed.

"…When you asked me that, I immediately thought I wasn't going to be around. But when I was with you…I guess I was happy that I was spending the time I had left with someone like you. Don't get me wrong, you're annoying… But you've been through so much shit, and you still had that smile on your face every day."

"You're a weird girl… But that's what I like about you. You're different. Shit… Why've you gotta make me say shit like this…"

He raised his gaze from the layers of flowers on the ground to her stone headstone.

_OHMOTO KEIKO_

_BORN 1992_

_DIED 2010, AGE 17_

_-LIVE ON IN THE HEARTS OF EVERYONE._

_REST PEACEFULLY. WE WILL PROTECT YOU.-_

"Did Kirijo commission this? Tch."

He knelt down amongst the variety of flowers, caressing the headstone lovingly.

"I'm waiting for you. So let's meet again."


End file.
